See any kid these days, and their face will be almost surgically attached to their face and fingers, but why do parents let them.

It turns out, some four in five parents really do believe tech gadgets help their child’s development.

It seems that when it comes to technology, many people worry about the amount of time children spend playing with various tech gadgets – but a recent TLF Panel survey conducted on behalf of children’s clothing retailer Vertbaudet has shown that many are all for it.

Newcastle parents are most likely to agree with this at 93 per cent, while 38 per cent of parents in Edinburgh disagree, making the Scottish capital the city with the highest number of parents who believe modern tech does not help with a child’s development.

During the survey of 1000 parents, the highest proportion of parents (37 per cent) said that their child spends between one and two hours a day on their tech gadgets, with the second highest proportion (28 per cent) saying between two and three hours. Interestingly, a very small percentage of parents (1 per cent) said their child spends over five hours each day on their gadgets.

Over a third of parents use tech gadgets to entertain their children because they are convenient. Almost a quarter said they want their child to be tech-savvy from a young age. Just one per cent said it was because they want to follow the lead of other parents.

Nationally, the survey revealed 38 per cent of two to five-year-olds own their own Android tablet, and 32 per cent own their own iPad. But almost a third of children in this age group have their own mobile phone too.

Parents don’t care too much about cost either. Researchers found the highest proportion of parents at 14 per cent said that they have spent more than £100 over the last year on tech gadgets for their child. Interestingly, over double the number of dads than mums fell into this category, with over one in five dads (22 per cent) saying they had spent over £100 in the last year, and just one in ten mums (11 per cent) saying the same.

Paul Farrar, spokesman for Vertbaudet adds: “As modern technology becomes more and more important in daily life, it’s great to see that parents are helping to prepare their children for this through introducing technology in the home.

“It’s also reassuring to see that the majority of parents feel gadgets help with their child’s development – something that shows how parents are embracing developments in modern technology, rather than shying away from it.”

According to the TLF Panel survey, the top nine cities in which parents feel their children are more tech-savvy than them are:

  1.      Birmingham – 75 per cent
  1.      Newcastle – 67 per cent
  1.      Norwich – 65 per cent
  1.      Manchester – 62 per cent
  1.      London – 62 per cent
  1.      Nottingham – 59 per cent
  1.      Dublin – 57 per cent
  1.      Edinburgh – 55 per cent
  1.      Leeds – 54 per cent
  1.      Sheffield – 54 per cent

For more information please visit the Vertbaudet blog.